Alike in Lack of Dignity
by Lilytooth
Summary: A story about Rillianne, the "Daughter of Evil," and Clarise, the daughter of white, and how they met and got to know each other. It basically just recaps the end of "Daughter of White." No pairings. Rated T for attempted murder.


The two met underneath a tree. Clarise had met someone here before, a close friend of her's, the girl who had given meaning to her life, Michaela. Michaela had been killed by order of the corrupt queen, "the Daughter of Evil," who had ruled the land before she had been taken down in the revolution. The queen that had taken away everything was gone now, and once again there was a girl lying asleep beneath this tree. It was as though fate were saying "I'm sorry for bringing so much trouble to you, I want to give you another chance at happiness."

Clarise patted the girl's shoulder, and she slowly opened her eyes. "Why are you waking me from my nap?" she grumbled, not quite fully awake. "I don't recognize you. What is it that you want?"

"I was making sure you were fine. Are you?" Clarise asked the girl.

"Not at all. I've been completely distressed for the last few weeks, very hungry, and nothing's been quite right. I had lived with quite a sum of money until recently. I, um, well, I was falsely accused of, um, cheating my way into wealth. Err, they took everything away from me and, um, gave it those they claimed it rightly belonged to. With the recent revolution many of the, um, higher-ups who rightfully earned their money have, um, been taken down."

Clarise felt some pity on the girl. Clarise could only dream of having so much herself, and this girl clearly has distressed after having lost it all. "What have you been doing since then?" Clarise asked.

"Scavenging and asking for food. I don't know how to do work. I don't know how to make food for myself. I hardly know how I'm still alive. I'm useless!" the girl looked on the verge of tears. Clarise thought for a moment. This girl was desperate, surely there was someway she could help.

"I work as a servant for a merchant in the city. It's not well-paying, and not very nice, but I'm sure I could get him to hire you. A lot of his help were women from the green country, so he doesn't have so many at the moment. I could teach you what you need to know for the job. I'm sorry that this is all I can offer, but it'll give you some money and a place to sleep. I can cook for you and also teach you how. Do you want me to try and help you?"

The girl was crying now, but she was also smiling a huge smile. "Thank you! You have no idea how much I need your kindness! What's your name? I'm so happy you woke me up!"

"I'm Clarise." said Clarise, a bit startled.

"Thank you, Clarise. I'm Ri- I'm Rinda." the girl said, hugging Clarise. "I'm sorry for being so emotional, it's not very ladylike. It's just that a lot has happened to me recently."

"I know exactly what you mean."

The girl who called herself Rinda gradually grew more and more adjusted to her new life. At first she often felt overworked. She couldn't believe how long it took and how tiring it was to clean or to go out to buy groceries. She didn't expect her limbs to be aching at the end of the day from walking and scrubbing and dusting and mopping and carrying and climbing. She didn't expect to be so tired by nightfall. She grew stronger, though, and as time passed she accepted that this was how she would have to live. She could cook basic meals now by herself, and she thoroughly enjoyed Clarise's company. She wasn't miserable, in fact, she was almost happy.

Clarise was glad that she had a new friend. Rinda was certainly very odd, but Clarise didn't mind. The strange girl would carry herself as though she was royalty, refused to ask for help when she needed it, and was full of remarks on how her servants must've felt when she had them. Clarise thought these oddities were almost cute, although their master Keel Freesis disagreed. He was quite irritated with Rinda because she was slow, clumsy, and inefficient. Clarise worked hard to keep Rinda from losing her job. The girl had begun to mean a lot to her, and she would be heartbroken if Rinda was removed from her life. She didn't want to put such heavy investment in one person because what had happened with Michaela showed her how easily someone could be torn from her life, but she couldn't help herself.

Rinda didn't have a clue that she was just barely managing to keep her job. Clarise had no clue what kind of of secrets her friend was keeping. Both of them were keeping it to themselves that they had recently lost those precious to them, and had very different ways of dealing with their pain. Neither of them had any idea that soon everything would be revealed.

Rinda went out every night and every morning, saying she was taking a walk. Clarise found it odd that she insisted on this. She didn't see the point of her taking walks if she found the work tiring. The more Clarise thought about it, the less it made sense, and she grew suspicious of Rinda. One night she decided she'd follow behind her to see where she went.

Rinda put on her cloak and went out the door. Clarise, quietly as she could, followed. She tried to hide behind things as much as possible. Soon Rinda reached the church and went in. Clarise opened the large church door just a crack, and could hear Rinda who seemed to be at the confession box, although Clarise couldn't actually see her. The girl's words were broken by sobs and muffled by things in the way, but Clarise managed to gather something along these lines "…and I know I could have been better, and I hate that there was no one guiding me. I must have made things awful for Mr. Freesis and Clarise. Even if she hasn't said anything about it, she lives in Elphegorf, I'm sure her friends and family were killed. I was such a horrible…" Clarise started walking back at that point. She didn't need to hear any more.

That night in her thoughts, Clarise worked over what she had heard. The girl had said that the slaughter of the green-haired women in Elphegorf was her fault. When they'd met the girl had said she had been rich, but that everything had been taken from her because of the revolution. That girl wasn't some falsely accused Rinda. She truly was the Daughter of Evil, Queen Rillianne.

So what was Clarise to do now? The girl who she had considered her friend was sleeping safely in the room next to hers. She had given food, a warm bed, and safety to Rillianne who was responsible for the death of the one person who had ever cared about Clarise, Michaela. Clarise had truly thought that the girl could be some replacement for Michaela. That had been a foolish assumption. She had to do something to make up to Michaela for this. The closest friend she had ever had was being put to shame by the fact that Clarise had befriended her murderer. How was she supposed to make up for that kind of slip up? Then Clarise got an idea. She could kill Rillianne.

Clarise made sure to wake up before the former queen did. She readied herself for the day, put on a coat, put a knife in her pocket, and waited for Rillianne to leave on her walk. Then when Rillianne left, taking with her a glass bottle with a quickly scrawled note inside, Clarise followed behind her. She followed the girl out to the beach. The Daughter of Evil placed the bottle in the water and watched it. Clarise took the knife from her pocket and walked closer to the other girl. She raised the knife, about to stab the girl in the back, and as she was doing so she swore she saw something in the water.

What Clarise had thought she saw was a boy, who bore quite a resemblance to Rillianne. Of course, there were only two people on this beach. She thought that maybe she had been about to stab the wrong person, and brought the knife back down.

Clarise then noticed the girl in front of her was crying. That girl was pitiful and lonely. She was trying to make up for her past by confessing at the church. She needed a friend. She needed someone to talk to. As she put the knife back in her pocket, Clarise realized that this girl was quite similar to who she was before she met Michaela. There was no way she could kill her.

"Rinda." Clarise said, and Rillianne looked behind her. "I know what it's like to lose everything precious to you. You can tell me everything, I promise to listen. You have nothing to keep from me, I know who you are, and I don't hate you. Why don't you come inside, and I can fix you something to eat."

"I'll think about it. Can I make breakfast?" Rillianne said.

"Yes, that'd be fine. What do want to make?"

"Brioche."

"Yes, you can make brioche."

**Author's Note: **I'm sure that this is the millionth fix you've read based on the Story of Evil, but I'm glad if you read it all the way through. I wanted to write this since I noticed there weren't very many people writing about the interactions between Rillianne and Clarise, which had intrigued since listening to "Daughter of White." Well, that and the fact that it'd be nothing original if I wrote RilliannexAllen twincest. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this. I also hope you couldn't tell that a Cascada song inspired me to write this, because that would be embarrassing. Thanks for reading!


End file.
